Israel airstrike one block from Palestinian PM's house

Story Highlights

• NEW: Airstrike was near a Hamas training facility, Palestinian source says • Two mayors in West Bank, parliament members among those Israel arrested • Palestinian official calls arrests "massacre to Palestinian democracy" • Six Palestinians injured in Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Palestinian sources say

Adjust font size:

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Three people were wounded Thursday in an Israeli airstrike near a Hamas training facility one block from the residence of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, a Palestinian security source told CNN.

The airstrike came on the heels of early morning arrests by Israeli forces of more than 30 Palestinian Hamas leaders at homes and offices in the West Bank. It was part of a promised crackdown on Hamas and its militant apparatus, which has pounded the Jewish state with hundreds of rockets.

There was no immediate confirmation from Israel Defense Forces on the airstrike in the Shati area of Gaza. IDF has been executing airstrikes in Gaza in recent days in what Israel says is retaliation for numerous rockets fired into Israel from Gaza.

Two other airstrikes took place earlier Thursday. One injured six people when it struck the Gaza City offices of the Palestinian executive force, a militia that reports to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian interior ministry, according to Palestinian security sources. IDF said it had targeted a Hamas post in Gaza, but offered no details.

A second strike hit a Hamas post in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, the Israeli military and Palestinian security sources told CNN. There were no reports of casualties.

Israel vows to rachet up violence

The arrests of Hamas leaders was described as "a massacre to Palestinian democracy" in a news release from Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti, who is an independent politician.

Israel also kept up pressure on Hamas militants in Gaza, continuing its air assault on targets there Thursday.

One airstrike hit the Gaza City offices of the Palestinian executive force, a militia that reports to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian interior ministry, according to Palestinian security sources. Six Palestinians were injured, the sources said.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed an airstrike on a Hamas post in Gaza City but offered no details.

Another airstrike hit a Hamas post in central Gaza, Israeli military and Palestinian security sources said. There were no initial reports of casualties.

The IDF also carried out two other airstrikes overnight in Gaza.

Israeli security forces arrested 33 senior Hamas members in the overnight West Bank raids, an IDF spokesman said Thursday.

Those include Palestinian Education Minister Nasser al-Shaer, the mayors of Nablus and Qalqilya, parliamentarians and senior Hamas activists, according to the IDF.

With the arrests, 41 Palestinian legislators are now being held in Israeli jails, Barghouti said.

Al-Shaer was arrested last year during an Israeli crackdown on Hamas militants after the June 25 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit from an Israeli border post near Gaza. After a month in Israeli detention, al-Shaer was released because of a lack of evidence.

Political leaders, not just military, targeted

With the overnight arrests, Israel has made it clear that it is targeting all of Hamas, not just the military wing responsible for the rocket attacks.

Nablus Mayor Adli Yaesh is a moderate member of Hamas, a businessman who counts Israeli Jews among his business partners and oldest friends.

Yaesh, who was interviewed by CNN last year, owns the largest Mercedes dealership in the West Bank.

He has become close friends with auto parts dealer Udi Rubovitz, an Israeli who lives 30 miles away in Tel Aviv.

Rubovitz invited Yaesh to his son's bar mitzvah, but he was unable to travel to Tel Aviv because of security restrictions so he sent 10 boxes of baklava pastries instead.

"I gave it out at my son's bar mitzvah and told everyone, 'This is from Nablus,' " Rubovitz said.

In his news release, Barghouti said the arrests are "a reminder that all Palestinian people and institutions remain to suffer savage occupation."

Hamas militants in Gaza have launched hundreds of Qassam rockets into Israel in recent weeks.

That has prompted deadly airstrikes from the Israeli military, targeting Hamas militants and rocket-launching sites in Gaza.

Early Wednesday, Israeli military forces "briefly" penetrated deep into the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis to conduct an operation "to prevent terror activity," an army spokesman said.

During the operation several people were detained temporarily, he said.

According to Palestinian security sources, seven farmers were arrested, then released.

Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in September 2005, ending their 38-year occupation of the region. Since then, Israeli ground forces have made brief incursions into the Palestinian-controlled territory.

The West Bank, meanwhile, remains occupied by Israel. The Palestinian government is based in the West Bank city of Ramallah and is ruled by the Hamas party.

Hamas came to power in parliamentary elections in January 2006 after more than a decade of Fatah rule over the Palestinian Authority. But the United States and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization, and the European Union joined them in cutting off aid over the group's refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist.

In addition to Hamas, Israel also has cracked down on Islamic Jihad militants in the West Bank.

Twenty Islamic Jihad terror operatives, including senior members, were arrested this week in Bethlehem, Israeli security sources said. They were taken for questioning by security forces, the sources said.

Islamic Jihad has planned and attempted to carry out attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF forces, especially in the Bethlehem area, the sources said.